Week 7 Predictions - Tommy

Tommy's Picks - (3 of 4 Week 6, 20 of 28 on season)

Another decent week for me in Week 6 going 3 for 4. I should have known better than to pick all of the same teams as Jay - talk about the blind leading the blind. Apparently I riled up all of the Cougars from Morris spurring them on to their biggest win of the year over Eureka. You're welcome UMM fans. I still stand by my previous claim that beating Eureka does not impress me - but, I will give credit where credit is due. Congratulations to the Cougars on a solid road victory. If you do something against Scholastica maybe I will finally stop hating on your two-quarterback system and guards constantly in two-point stances. A glance at this week's line-up shows no marquee match-ups, but I still expect to see some good UMAC competition.

Crown @ St. Scholastica - Hopefully after last week's debacle, all Storm players have decided to refrain from providing the Saints with any bulletin board material. Two weeks ago I would have said CSS would win this game by 40. I would have said the same thing going into last week as well. But, after a poor showing against Westminster in which the Saints hobbled to a 20-6 victory, I am not so sure anymore. It seems like St. Scholastica is a squad that plays to competition at times. However, Crown did even less to impress me last week getting steamrolled in what was their biggest game of the year. The Storm still have too many holes to fill to think about beating a team like CSS. St. Scholatica's talent overmatches Crown in this one. The Saints score early and often and Crown wishes that they could only play the first half in this one too. St. Scholastica 38 Crown 7

Martin Luther @ Northwestern - I'm going to do all the UMAC teams a solid and give out some free advice on how to beat the Eagles. 1) Stop trying to run the football. "But wait," you say, "we are a running team." I understand that you are who you are, but NWC is just too tough on the run. Their front seven will outmatch any offensive line out there. 2) Pass the ball. You can throw on this team. If you protect your quarterback for 3 seconds you can complete 8 yard passes to the flats and 15 yard passes up the seam all day against the Eagle's defense. Even Crown had some success doing this. 3) Stop the run. I can almost guarantee you that of the Eagles' first 8 plays at least 6 will be runs. They are not trying to fool anyone. They are going to line up with 2 backs and 1 tight end and hand the ball to Chris Simon-Wallace and Josh Sinnen. Put 10 people in the box if you need to. 4) Make them pass. NWC hasn't had to pass the ball effectively to win in any of their games this season. Make them do something they don't want to do. I'm not saying they can't pass, but I haven't seen it yet. What I have seen is them dominate game after game on the ground.

To recap, 1) Give up on the run 2) Pass instead 3) Stop the run 4) Force them to pass to beat you
Easier said than done... but if it were me, I would much rather get beaten through the air than allow the Eagles to run the ball down my throat like they have done all season. Is Martin Luther the team to do any of these things? Probably not. But, who knows? Maybe they will throw off Northwestern with their 8 yard splits between each lineman. Outside of that, I don't see the Eagles dropping this one. Northwestern 28 Martin Luther 7



Presentation @ Minnesota Morris - Morris is flying high fresh off of their big win over the Red Devils. I saw some tweets of the vindicated Cougars and I am glad to see they are enjoying themselves. The good news is that they should have two more weeks to enjoy themselves before St. Scholastica brings them back to reality. Other good news is that thanks to the UMAC's Sports Information Director, Greg Johnson, we now know the name of the Morris announcer - Paul McDonald. Someone tell Paul to get on here because he is now famous. I thought Presentation would be much improved this season, but after they lost 41-20 to Crown I lost all faith. At least their school is in South Dakota so there is a lot to do outside of football. Minnesota Morris 31 Presentation 21


Westminster @ MacMurray - Where do I even begin with this one? Both of these teams have proven themselves to be undisciplined and sloppy throughout the course of this season. On a brighter note, a Westminster corner/travel agent did post on our wall something about having his own island and we are all invited. Personally, I am pretty excited. It sounds like a nice place to visit. Brendon Foss visited there a couple weeks ago and enjoyed 12 catches for 182 yards and 3 TDs. I bet even Jay could take a nice, relaxing vacation to this island and have a cool two catches for 40 yards.

What are my thoughts on the game? Don't know. Still don't know what I think about Westminster. They played Scholastica close last week so maybe they played with some pride as I requested. Or maybe the Saints just didn't play great in the rainy conditions. I know I should pick the Blue Jays in this one, but what the heck? Give me the Highlanders! Someone give me their mascot head to put on. Do they even have a mascot? I cannot justify my pick except to say that a Westminster player will fall out of the back of the end zone into the abyss of Freesen Field and the Blue Jays will be so thrown off that Mac pulls out the W. MacMurray 28 Westminster 27

Game of the Week:

Eureka @ Greenville - This was a game I circled on my calendar at the beginning on the year. I thought Greenville would be the class of the conference and Eureka would be just below the top teams and even pull off an upset or two. After 6 weeks of conference play, it would appear that things have turned out a little differently. I'm not completely ready to give up on Greenville yet, but their defense is about as intimidating as Alex Rodriguez in the postseason. (That's not very intimidating for those of you who did not understand the analogy). However, I'm beginning to think that Eureka is more interested in creating publicity for Sam Durley than winning games. It is great that Durley is able to get all of these accolades and invitations to All-Star games and NFL scouts looking at him and whatever else. But what does it matter if you cannot finish higher than fifth in the UMAC? I will take a winner over someone who puts up stats any day.

I expect this one to be an absolute shootout. Both of these high-powered offenses will be facing defenses that leave much to be desired. In completely different fashions, I expect both offenses to rack up big yards and lots of points. I will take Greenville in this one for two reasons. First, they have been there before. I always trust a team that has proven they know how to win in previous seasons. Second, I like a team that can run the ball effectively over a team that can pass the ball effectively. Too many things have to go right on a passing play (good protection, good throw, good catch) for a DIII team to build its offense around the aerial attack. I am much more confident in a team that snaps the ball and runs it right at you play after play. I like Greenville to literally run all over the Red Devils. Greenville 48 Eureka 38